Dragon’s Den star Norah Casey opens up on abusive relationship

She told Ryan Tubridy, “We were a very unlikely match. I came to London with a friend of mine who was a midwife.”

Abusive: Norah was in an abusive relationship in her twenties | VIPIRELAND.COM

She continued, “One night we went to a very posh wine bar and at the time we had no money. Peter came in splashing the cash, bought me a drink and asked me out on a date.

“We’d only had a couple of dates but he was already teaching me which glass to use and how to use the cutlery. On the third date, I mentioned that the chap I was going out with before also had the same name.

“He slammed his wine glass down and said ‘this is not a joke, you’re my woman now and I’m not going to share you with anyone’.”

She said that she then went to the bathroom shocked, but by the time she returned he was apologising and gifted her a gold necklace.

Shocked: Her former partner hadn’t seemed abusive at the start | BRIAN MCEVOY

The presenter then opened up about one terrible incident in particular.

“After dinner, I didn’t want to get in the car because he was drinking. I refused to get into the car and he left angry and drove off.

“Eventually he pulled me into the house and battered me senseless… When I was on the ground on the floor in the hall I could hardly see but I could see him going for a knife in the kitchen.

“I don’t know how I did it but I pulled myself up and I barricaded myself into the sitting room. I was winded and couldn’t breath very well.”

Incident: There was a final incident that made Norah leave her partner | PETER HOULIHAN

She eventually fell asleep, and when she woke up at 4am he was standing over her with the knife, crying and apologising, promising that he would attend AA.

“He wouldn’t take me to the doctors for three days. I was incapable of walking… I broke three ribs and my cheekbone was broken.”